


The Things We Say

by Eiliem



Series: Tiny!Ace and Tinier!Luffy [10]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Brotherhood, Childhood, D Brothers, Dialogue-Only, Family, Ficlet, Fluff, Gen, POV Third Person, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-26
Updated: 2009-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-03 19:52:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eiliem/pseuds/Eiliem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ace and Luffy have a fight. Dadan runs interference.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Things We Say

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"I see, you and Luffy just arbitrarily decided to not speak to each other. For fun."

 

_"What were you thinking Luffy! You could have drowned!"_

"That bird stole my hat!"

"I don't care about the stupid hat - You could have **died**!"

 

"He's _so stupid_!"

"I know – he gets it from his grandfather, I swear."

"He always does stupid things and he never thinks and that _stupid hat_\--"

"Ah."

"…what?"

"Oh, nothing. You wouldn't have happened to say that to Luffy's face, though, would you?"

"…"

"Oh Ace. It's not fair, is it, being the responsible one?"

"He's going to get himself _killed_ one day and I—"

"Shh, it's okay. He's tougher than he looks, your brother, he'll be alright."

"But he _doesn't think!_"

"He does. He doesn't always think about the _consequences_ of his actions, which is frightening for us, but I assure you, there are thought processes going on in his brain – even if we can't always follow them."

"That's not going to keep him _safe_ though!"

"Well, no, not always, but he's getting better – he only does half as many fatally dangerous stupid things as he did when we first got him, right? And Garp used to be even more of an idiot than Luffy and—"

"That's impossible."

"Well, maybe not _more_ stupid. Maybe _as_ stupid. But the point is, Garp outgrew…lots of it. Some of it. Enough, in any case. And until Luffy is ready to stand on his own, he has a very devoted, very strong older brother who couldn't take better care of him."

"Who he won't talk to."

***

"Luffy, we need to talk about Ace."

"He said Shanks' hat is stupid. _He's_ stupid."

"He was scared Luffy. He worries about you. And it scares him the most when you fall in the water. It scares me. And when people are scared, they say things they don't mean. Like calling their little brother's precious treasure stupid.

"That's dumb."

"…When people are angry, they sometimes do things they don't mean, too – like ignore their brother all day."

"I _don't_ want to talk to him, he said the hat was stupid. It's not! I made a promise to Shanks and--"

"But he saved the hat, didn't he? If he really thought it wasn't worth anything he could have just saved you and left it in the water, couldn't he? Even if he had left it, though, even if he called it stupid – Luffy your life is _precious_ to Ace. Your promise to Shanks is important, and should be honoured, but to Ace and me you are worth so much more. And Luffy, you hurt his feelings today."

"…I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing to me for?"

"I—"

"Your brother was outside, last I saw him."

***

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. …And I'm sorry I wouldn't talk to you and ran away from you and wouldn't play with you all day. And I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. And I'm really really _really_ sorry I said I didn't want to be your brother anymore. I didn't mean it! You're the best brother is the world and I'm really really really really really really…_really_ happy you're mine. You're important to me too."

"…"

"Well, um…it's okay if you don't want to talk to me, because I said mean things to you and that wasn't nice. But, uh, I'm just going to sit here and talk to you, okay? So I'm not ignoring you anymore. Because I shouldn't have, you were taking care of me – like you always do – and… Oh. And I'm sorry I scared you too. If a bird comes and steals my hat to make a nest again I'll let you save it. Hey, when you're not mad at me anymore do you want to go and practice making rafts again? I promise I won't try mine out until you say it's okay. And we never finished talking about what our Jolly Rogers are going to be, when we're old enough to leave. And—"

"Me too."

"Huh?"

"I'm happy you're my brother too."


End file.
